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DDQ WED 2023-01-25

8. Time to Learn

8.1. Agenda

Released

Category

Assignment

Day

Date

2023-01-10

Term Project

Milestone 0: IRB Training

FRI

2023-01-20

2023-01-19

Paper Pres.

Register a Presentation Date

THU

2023-01-26

2023-01-19

Term Project

Milestone 1: Problem Proposal (Part 1)

FRI

2023-01-27

2023-01-19

Paper Pres.

Pick a Paper

THU

2023-02-09

2023-01-19

Term Project

Milestone 1: Problem Proposal (Part 2)

FRI

2023-02-10

2023-02-07

Exams

Prepare for Exam 1 Quiz

FRI

2023-02-10

2023-02-07

Exams

Exam 1

TUE

2023-02-14

2023-02-16

Term Project

Milestone 2: Definition & Related Work

FRI

2023-03-17

2023-03-20

Term Project

Milestone 3: Design Alternatives

FRI

2023-04-14

2023-03-28

Exams

Prepare for Exam 2 Quiz

FRI

2023-04-21

2023-03-28

Exams

Exam 2

THU

2023-04-27

2023-03-28

Term Project

Milestone 4: Prototyping & Testing

TUE

2023-05-09

  1. General Announcements

  2. Activity

8.2. Activity

8.2.1. Introduction

Shneiderman et al. claim that a successful designer must go beyond the use of vague, subjective measures of, “user friendliness,” “intuitive,” and “natural,” and study evidence-based guidelines in the research literature.

This does not mean that subjectivity goes away. On the contrary, it means that subjectivity might be accepted or rejected based on evidence. One of the usability measures that the textbook authors argue will lead more directly to practical evaluation is time to learn.


task

An organized, cohesive set of operations directed toward a single, low-level goal.

time to learn

The duration of time required for a typical member of a user community to learn the actions relevant to a task or set of tasks.

learning

The acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.

skill

The learned ability to perform a task with determined results.

competence

A skill with constraints related to a task’s performance or result (e.g., time, energy, quality, etc.); the ability to perform a task successfully or efficiently.

proficiency

Some measure of competence or skill.

success rate

The percentage of task instances that a user or group of users complete correctly or successfully; often used to indicate proficiency.

soft skills

Any skill skill that does not employ the use of machinery (e.g., social graces, communication abilities, language skills, personal habits, cognitive or emotional empathy, etc.).

hard skills

Any skills that employs the use of machinery, often involving methods, processes, procedures, or techniques, and that must allow for an objective determination of proficiency.


In this example, proficiency increases rapidly at first but at later stages there are diminishing returns.

Fig. 8.1 An example of a subject becoming more proficient at a task as they spend more time doing it.


"steep learning curve"

Fig. 8.2 An example of a subject who spends a lot of time but does not see an increase in proficiency at first.


"steep learning curve"

Fig. 8.3 Tasks that are easy to learn and difficult to learn are often described by short and long learning curves, respectively.


Do the “steep” and “shallow” labels in Fig. 8.3 seem backwards to you? If so, then you’re not alone. When observing a learning curve, a segment that appears steep always indicates rapid learning. This often causes some confusion due to the colloquial use of steep in the phrase “steep learning curve,” because it is most often used to express a task that is difficult to learn.

As a rule of thumb, the steep segment’s distance from the origin is positively correlated with difficulty […]

If there is only one steep segment in a learning curve for some task, then its distance from the origin can often help indicate whether the task is easy to learn or hard to learn. As a rule of thumb, the steep segment’s distance from the origin is positively correlated with difficulty; that is, as the steep segment’s distance from the origin increases, so too does the likelihood that the task is difficult to learn.


sigmoid curve

Fig. 8.4 An example of a subject exhibiting the idealized normal progression of discovery, learning, and reaching their limit.


8.2.2. Breakout Groups

Duration: \(\sim\) 20 minutes

Randomize!

Please randomize!

  1. Quickly introduce yourselves to each other, if you don’t already know each other.

  2. Pick a group representative. This person will be responsible for posting your breakout group’s response on Piazza before breakout group work ends for this activity.

  3. Consider a computer-related interface design that a majority of the members of your breakout group have learned how to use, then help your group representative respond to the points below in a followup discussion to Piazza @30. If you’re not sure if your choice of interface is considered “computer-related,” then feel free to ask your instructor.

    1. List the names of your breakout group members.

    2. Include a visual example of the interface (e.g., a screenhot, photo, drawing).

    3. Provide a detailed description of of a single, non-trivial task involving the interface. An example of a trivial task is logging in or logging out of an app.

      Note

      Consider these questions when describing your task:

      • What is the goal?

      • How does the user start the task?

      • What actions need to be performed?

      • Are there multiple ways for the user to complete the task?

    4. What factors are involved in successful task completion?

      Note

      Consider these questions when describing your measure:

      • Is the outcome always binary?

      • If there is more than one way to complete the task, are they all treated equally or are some of them preferred?

      • Is there a time constraint related to successful task completion?

    5. How can you measure or test successful task completion?

      Note

      Consider these questions when describing your test:

      • If you were tasked with collecting the information about the factors you described in (d), then how would you set that up?

      • Is collecting the information about the factors sufficient to determine success? Why or why not?

    6. Do you think your test would still work if repeated (e.g., in a longitudinal study)? Why or why not?

    7. As a group, look at and reply to the posts that other groups made.

8.2.3. After Breakout Groups

Duration: TBD

  1. Look at some of the Piazza posts as a class.

8.2.4. After Class

  1. Before the next class period, individually comment on another group’s post by replying to their followup discussion in Piazza @30.

    Comments

    Please keep the comments polite and constructive. In addition to whatever else you want to write, please comment on one aspect of a group’s post that you like and one aspect that you think needs improvement (e.g., you find that something is unclear or you don’t understand a justification). Be sure to provide a brief justification for each.

  2. Continue reading the Foundations module and familiarize yourself with the vocabulary.

  3. Here is a list of current assignments:

    Released

    Category

    Assignment

    Day

    Date

    2023-01-10

    Term Project

    Milestone 0: IRB Training

    FRI

    2023-01-20

    2023-01-19

    Paper Pres.

    Register a Presentation Date

    THU

    2023-01-26

    2023-01-19

    Term Project

    Milestone 1: Problem Proposal (Part 1)

    FRI

    2023-01-27

    2023-01-19

    Paper Pres.

    Pick a Paper

    THU

    2023-02-09

    2023-01-19

    Term Project

    Milestone 1: Problem Proposal (Part 2)

    FRI

    2023-02-10

    2023-02-07

    Exams

    Prepare for Exam 1 Quiz

    FRI

    2023-02-10

    2023-02-07

    Exams

    Exam 1

    TUE

    2023-02-14

    2023-02-16

    Term Project

    Milestone 2: Definition & Related Work

    FRI

    2023-03-17

    2023-03-20

    Term Project

    Milestone 3: Design Alternatives

    FRI

    2023-04-14

    2023-03-28

    Exams

    Prepare for Exam 2 Quiz

    FRI

    2023-04-21

    2023-03-28

    Exams

    Exam 2

    THU

    2023-04-27

    2023-03-28

    Term Project

    Milestone 4: Prototyping & Testing

    TUE

    2023-05-09